Package: plasma-desktop Version: 6.2.3-1 Severity: normal Tags: patch upstream usability accessibility A11y
Dear Maintainer, What led up to the situation?After upgrading to KDE Plasma 6.2.3 in Debian Unstable (Sid), I noticed that the default click behavior in Dolphin and other KDE components had changed from single-click to double-click to open files and folders.
What exactly did you do (or not do) that was effective (or ineffective)?I went into System Settings → General Behavior → Click behavior and manually switched it back to single-click. However, I then experienced side effects: specifically, the behavior for selecting multiple files in Dolphin became inconsistent and less usable.
Selecting files became awkward compared to the previous Plasma 5 behavior. What was the outcome of this action?Although I restored the single-click behavior, the file selection behavior changed in an unintuitive way. I could no longer interact with multiple files or folders the same way as before. This caused a usability regression and slowed down my normal file management workflow.
What outcome did you expect instead?I expected the previous KDE behavior: single-click by default, with intuitive and consistent multi-selection in Dolphin. I expected Debian to maintain the longstanding, well-functioning KDE default that worked for many years and was widely preferred by users.
Additional notes:This change also introduces accessibility issues. Double-clicking is physically harder for users with motor impairments, tremors, arthritis, or those using assistive devices like head pointers or trackballs. Many devices and interfaces (e.g. touchscreens, Plasma Mobile, browsers) follow a single-click logic by design. The new upstream default breaks this consistency.
Furthermore, KDE community feedback appears to have been ignored or even suppressed during this change. Several community polls showed a clear preference (over 70%) for single-click to remain the default. This was disregarded without strong justification. I request that Debian consider restoring single-click as the default for KDE Plasma in its packaging, or at least provide a configuration that avoids the selection inconsistencies in Dolphin when users switch back manually.
Thank you for your work and consideration. Best regards, Lucy
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